I've been digging around and looking at all the different bow offerings in the search for what I want next. One design that really intrigued me was the takedown longbow with belly mount limbs like what hill country and rainy day makes. Besides added weight in the riser section does this design offer up anything else over a standard 3 piece takedown? The hill country bows are a bit out of the price range I want to be in but the rainy day model first within the budget I'm trying to set.
The belly mount system is just a way to create a forward handle, which for many adds to the pointability of the bow and stability at full draw. The Hill Country 3pc longbows are superb shooters, quiet and built with heirloom quality. I cannot speak for Rainy Day but I have heard only good things. The ultimate longbow in this configuration is the Habu Vyperkahn, several of which I have owned, but the Hill Country bows give nothing up.
The 1 and 2pc equivalents of this type of design would be your Shrew and Javaman style bows, and with the addition of higher mass riser materials and/or Bow Bolt system you can have almost the equivalent stability of the 3pc iterations. So that would keep your options open to a degree.
Really it comes down to the person behind the string. I shoot back or belly mount setups equally well myself.
I've noticed that, when tuning that style bow, the arrow spine may need to be stiffer because the limbs have a shorter, harder stroke. I don't know if that's true of all of them; I noticed it with Widows, years ago.
I've got a belly mounted Stillwater Aberdeen. I don't really notice much of a difference with the limbs being on the belly. The only thing that I've noticed, and I don't know if this is true with all belly mounted bows, but the brace height is lower than I would have expected it to be.
justin...pm sent
Heartland Bows are built that way,really works well.
Terry
Where can I find info on heartland bows